 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bobby McClellan
Date: 2009-08-05 23:00
Just wondering if anyone has ever tried Tom's basset clarinet? I am curious of anyones opinion of them.
Bobby M. McClellan
Flowood, MS
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Author: Bobby McClellan
Date: 2009-08-06 00:36
Thank you for the referal to the other thread. interesting stuff. Might have to save up to get one. Hate that I was unable to get one when tom was offering them onsale. but I had just purchased my R13 and my YCL221II bass.
You can only get away with a few things as far as the wife is concerned
Bobby M. McClellan
Flowood, MS
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Author: JJAlbrecht
Date: 2009-08-06 00:52
Bobby, if you had bought a Lyrique Bb, you would have had the cash for the Basset! ![[rotate]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smiley25.gif)
Just yanking your chain a little (very little).
Jeff
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Author: Bobby McClellan
Date: 2009-08-06 20:46
Jeff,
The deal that I got on the R13 was just too good to pass up. But I am stashing away some money for the basset, hopefully Tom will put them back on sale again.
Bobby M. McClellan
Flowood, MS
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Author: HBO
Date: 2009-08-06 21:26
Chances are, we will all have to wait till winter season (mainly christmas) until a new sale comes up..
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Author: xarkon
Date: 2009-08-07 13:34
I played the basset at the Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium. Well, "played" is an overstatement, because learning to deal with the extended range clearly will take a lot of patient work.
Positives - nice workmanship, sounds good, intonation was very good. Like that ergonomic register key; must see if I can get those for my Selmer Signatures. Clearly, this instrument offers a lot of value for the price.
Negatives -
1. I just don't know about those pads. All the smaller pads are of some synthetic material that I did not recognize. On the other hand, I don't think Tom would put something on there that created a warranty problem for him.
2. The F/C right-hand pinky key (I seem to remember this being the one). The design required for adding the additional right-hand pinky keys require some compromises on this key in particular, and I always seemed to not hit it correctly. However, I think this could be remedied with practice pretty easily.
3. The thumb key, which I seem to remember is for low C? Anyway - you have to make a distinct movement to remove your thumb from the thumb rest and drop it down a bit to activate this. Tom suggested that anyone playing the instrument will use a neck strap, so this may not be much of a problem. But - the video I have seen of a couple prominent players indicates that they are not using neckstraps - so I think it's something that's dependent on your own needs.
On #3, I picked up a Buffet basset at another vendor - did not play it - but this thumb key design is much, much better on the Buffet (ergonomics). Of course, the Buffet is also in the $7k+ range.
I've been considering whether to buy Tom's instrument anyway, and have a repairman fashion a better key arrangement for the thumb - would still be far cheaper than the Buffet. As it is, this would be only a toy for me; no one is going to hire me to play the Mozart Concerto or Quintet. Nevertheless, it could be an interesting and fun diversion.
You might simply ask Tom what pricing consideration he might make. Lots of vendors are making concessions in the current times - cash flow is king.
If you decide to buy, please post and let us know what you think.
Dave
Post Edited (2009-08-07 17:37)
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Author: cigleris
Date: 2009-08-07 15:07
Dave makes an intersesting point here. Can you afford to by a basset clarinet for it to sit in it's case and not be used?
I bought mine at a very good price and paid for it with the amount of Concertos and Quintets I had in the 2 years from buying it. Now it sits in it's case, the last time I played the Mozart Concerto was last year in Sibiu Romania.
Just a thought...
Peter Cigleris
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